Literary Events: Mar. 2012

OBAMERIKA

“Yes we can” is what Barack Obama promised to the electorate. Little is left from this enthusiasm, which captivated the United States at the beginning of Obama’s presidency. A country struck by the economic crisis, hugely indebted, with broken roads and wretched schools. Wolfgang Geier, correspondent for the Austrian public broadcaster ORF in Washington D.C., paints a grim picture of the declining superpower and reports what has gone wrong. In German.

EUROPEAN POETRY FESTIVAL

Poets from all over Europe followed the call of European Embassies and Cultural Institutes in Vienna and will present their oeuvres on this evening at the Literaturhaus. The festival is held for the third time and attracted contributions from Austrian, Finnish, Belgian, Georgian, Italian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Czech and Hungarian poets. The readings will be held in the poets’ native language with German translations.

A DIARY OF PIQUE 1983–1984

Carl Djerassi, the Austro-American chemist, “father” of the birth control pill, novelist and art collector presents his latest publication in Vienna. Full of anger and self-pity, Djerassi relieved his feelings and desperation in poetry, when the love of his life, his future wife Diane Middlebrook, left him in 1983. It is only now, after the death of Diane in 2007, that Djerassi edited and revised these lyrical diary entries of the past. In English.

READING: ONLY REVOLUTIONS

Haley and Sam. Both of them sweet sixteen. Two love stories. In Mark Z. Danielewski’s latest novel, two teens travel the United States and history: from the Civil War to the Cold War, from the civil rights movement to the Iraq War. From front to back and from back to front. The novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award, can literally be read upside down. Reading in English.

VIENNA LIT BOOK GROUP

Share your insights on the protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, on the twists and turns in the story line of the novel you are reading with other booklovers. One Monday per month the groups gets together to discuss some contemporary English novel or timely non-fiction at the English Studies Library of the University of Vienna. New members welcome. The next book for discussion will be announced on the website.

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THE VIENNA REVIEW is a publication of Vienna Review Publishing GmbH, Vienna, Austria, a journal of news, culture, lifestyle and opinion covering the life and times of Vienna, Austria and the wider Central Europen region. It is published in English.